By Rory Kavanagh

Before the 2006 Ulster Final in Croke Park, our manager Brian McIver was worried.

He was worried that his youthful side were being sent to Croke Park instead of Clones to take on Armagh. Of all teams, Armagh.

He didn’t know how we would deal with it, he thought that for some of us starting our first big game in Croke Park in an Ulster Final and against an Armagh side that won there only two years previously was going to prove too much.

You see, it takes time to get your head around playing there, especially in a big Championship game.

Croker has different sights, sounds and smells to any other stadium. Our young team eventually succumbed to the experience of Armagh on a score-line of 1-09 to 0-09.

Take Donegal now, who look to be coming into an unstable period. There is no guarantee we will play in a proper Championship game in Croke Park for quite some time, whereas it’s a different reality for a young Kerry or Dublin player.

The Super 8’s look like a long way off after this year’s campaign. The Eoin Ban Gallagher’s, Ciaran Thompsons and Caolan Wards of this world will have to be content with playing a league game against the Dubs which gives them limited experience of Croker’s reality.

Playing there in February in an empty stadium and again in a quarter final or semi final in August are altogether different propositions. Players need to experience it to learn how to cope with its size and sound when full to capacity.

Before we played Kildare in the 2011 All Ireland quarter final, we were fully aware we had never won a big game in Croke Park in championship. It was a huge test of our character and we were under pressure as a group to perform.

Winning that game and the manner in which we did it, a last minute winner in extra time, did immeasurable things for the self belief of our team. We had won a big game in Croker for the first time and it was a huge monkey off our back. We were bouncing into training the following week.

Teams that find themselves in that position of having never won a big game in Croke Park often buckle under the weight of expectation - look at Monaghan for example.

That tag still weighs heavily around their necks and their players have underperformed in their last three quarter final matches. And now Malachy O'Rourke has a big call to make – can he see himself as the man that’s capable of taking them to the next level?

We now have the four teams that most people predicted at the start of the year, each of them no stranger to big games in Croke Park over the past decade. These matches have the capacity to live long in the memory and I hope as a GAA fan they do.

Kerry go into this one having breezed past Galway in the last round. People will point out that Galway created goal chances but in truth Galway are nowhere near the level of this Kerry team just yet.

Kerry never got out of second gear. They come into the semi-final knowing they have work to do in certain areas which is ideal for the manager to refocus player’s minds.

They won’t be happy with the way Galway’s direct running caused them problems and their lack of intensity in the tackle summed up their attitude for me. It was like, we know we’ll win this one lads, let’s just get the game played and get out of here.

They have played three games compared with Mayo’s seven so far. This is where the season starts for Kerry and I would be shocked if they don’t come out of the blocks with all guns blazing to test Mayo’s legs.

In the 2014 semi-final between the two sides Kerry’s key attacking strategy was the long diagonal ball into Donaghy. Mayo have got to get this right for Sunday.

It was our primary focus against Mayo in the 2012 decider. The long diagonal balls into Michael Murphy caused havoc in the first ten minutes of the game. We had two goals scored and very nearly a third by the twelfth minute. Game over.

It is Mayo’s Achilles heel time and time again and it could prove to be their undoing again this weekend.

Keith Higgins is a fantastic player but he doesn’t seem to be an out and out man marker for me. He would be better off taking up a half back line position for this game as all of Kerry’s inside forwards are extremely dangerous and need to be kept quiet. Easier said than done though.

Harrison and Keegan are Mayo’s best man markers but it’s unlikely Keegan will be sent to the full back line so the manager has a dilemma.

The match up on Donaghy is crucial. He came up with the big plays in 2014 when Kerry needed someone and he was causing havoc again against Galway last time out.

Fitzmaurice has overseen the changing of the guard in Kerry. He knows full well that when players get on a bit in their career they tend to get soft so his biggest task was to find players who have a ruthless hard edge to them.

And there are signs that some of those types of players are being injected into the team. Players who will seek contact and get in the oppositions face.

Kerry will target the opposition’s best player. They did it with Michael Murphy in the 2014 All Ireland final and I’ve no doubt they will do it again on Sunday.

Aidan O’ Mahony was in his face from first minute to the last. I’m not saying there was anything illegal about what he done just good tight aggressive defending. And, look, Michael certainly didn’t back down either. It was being given both ways. It’s what you would expect from the top teams at this level.

Lee Keegan is Mayo’s go to player so I expect him to come in for some treatment. If Kerry don’t put a man on him I expect a concentrated effort from the Kerry players to rattle him early and often throughout the match. I’m not saying they will try and get him sent off but they would be crazy to let him have the freedom of Croke Park.

Kerry are as good as I’ve seen at asking questions on opposition kick-outs. It’s obvious that Fitzmaurice spends huge time on this at training because he knows if they are to win an All Ireland they will probably have to beat Dublin too.

Last year in their semi-final clash with Dublin he pushed up on Cluxton’s kick-outs with a four players in the full forward line, five across Dublin’s half back line and Kieran Donaghy behind that for any long ball kicked out around the middle. It was risky to say the least but it paid off with them pillaging 1-3 off kick-outs during a ten-minute spell.

Against us in the 2014 final, he again went with the zonal approach but this time he knew the danger was further out the field in the middle third of the pitch where we had so much success against the Dubs in the semi final.

So he set up with only three in the full forward line, four across the half back line, and three big men across the middle against myself, big Neil, and Murphy. How Kerry go at Mayo’s kickout will be just another interesting facet of this game, but a crucial one.

What an emotional rollercoaster of a season this has been for the Mayo supporters. They keep coming back for more but how many battles can one endure without tasting success? They have shown enormous resilience and courage. It’s been one hell of a journey but how will it all end is what everyone’s wondering?

Myself and Alan Dillon went to college together in Maynooth and we became very good friends. I was down for his wedding in Ballintubber Abbey last winter and I enjoyed the few beers with the Mayo lads at the reception afterwards.

What struck me from having a chat with a few of them, especially the older fellas, was that each man was willing to keep going until their bodies literally give up on them. The competitor within will not allow them to quit and I have serious admiration for that.

Alan was a great footballer to play with and I know he has struggled with injuries over the past few seasons but he’s still there and he still pushing his body, for Mayo and for an All Ireland.

He possessed this great solo then step that left many defenders trailing in his wake during our college days. I used to love watching it because the defenders always had this look on their face afterwards as if to say – what happened there?

He never wasted a ball and was one of these players who seemed to have all the time in the world when in possession.

This week got me thinking on the likes of Alan, Keith Higgins, Colm Boyle, Donal Vaughan and Andy Moran etc. The older brigade. Like most people, we’re wondering if they are destined never to get their hands on a Celtic Cross.

It’s a harsh reality but true in that no one in Kerry this week will be bothered if they don’t, or Dublin or Tyrone for that matter. It’s a dog eat dog at the top and everyone has their eye on the prize.

Sympathy goes out the window and the Mayo boys will know this only too well. You won’t hear anyone saying ‘ah those Mayo fella’s have given great service, they deserve their All Ireland’. Not a chance.

So, another epic battle in store? I’ve a feeling it could be. I hope the Mayo lads have spoken a few home truths to each other this past couple of weeks because this could be it for some of their players.

They have got to see the end. It needs to be clear in their minds. There can be no doubts about how this ends for them. It’s the only way they will prevail.

The problem is they have a team in Kerry who have seen the end already and don’t care much for romance, just winning.

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